A busy professional asked me this question:
How should I answer to my boss when he says it is a problem that I didn’t use a specific type of bullets in my report, implying that it doesn’t matter that the content is good?
You should say, “Yes. I can fix that immediately. Are there any other formatting conventions that I need to know about? How the content? Is there anything else that needs changing? Is the content as you expected? What else do you need in this report? Is there anything else I need to know about?”
Your manager DID NOT imply that it doesn’t matter that the content is good. Your manager did imply was that report formatting is important. The fact that you were not aware of the required format, means that there may be other things to which you are not aware. Ask questions to collect all the changes at once – to avoid edit churn.
It is not uncommon that companies or departments have format conventions that everyone needs to follow. Often times it is associated with branding, marketing and even automation or scanning of the reports. There could be any number of reasons. Regardless of the reasons, you have now been notified of the proper procedures that you need to follow.
It’s not personal. It’s business. Stay professional.
If you need want to discuss in more detail, please setup a one-on-one consult session.
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Written by Laura Rose
Author of the business and time management books: TimePeace: Making peace with time – and The Book of Answers: 105 Career Critical Situations . Laura is a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management, and work-life balance strategies.